Polarization of Photoelectrons from Magnetized Nickel

Abstract

An experiment is described in which the polarization of photoelectrons from a magnetized nickel crystal was measured. After acceleration of the photoelectrons to 120 keV by an electrostatic accelerator, the polarization was measured by the Mott scattering technique and was found to be zero within the experimental accuracy of 2%. Possible explanations of this result, including the nature of the electron band structure and depolarizing mechanisms, are discussed. Hence, photoemission from ferromagnets does not appear to be a useful source of polarized electrons for other experiments.